Aussies have the need for speed

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AUSTRALIA without fast bowlers is like Sampson without his hair.

Fast bowling is in Australia's DNA. It has a loud and proud heritage which was enhanced at the Gabba as terrified England batsmen were humiliated.

Mitchell Johnson (4-61) was brutal, Ryan Harris (3-28) relentless and Peter Siddle (1-24) miserly.

It was a bone-rattling, helmet crashing display from Johnson, with his Movember moustache harking back to the raw aggression of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in the `70s.

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While Australia's batting depth continues to be exposed, the abundance of fast bowlers must be celebrated, as it was in Brisbane on Friday by a baying crowd which filled the Gabba almost to capacity.

Australia has four frontline fast bowlers out with long term injuries, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Jackson Bird, yet has still managed to assemble a confronting collection of high class pacemen.

On Friday's performance it is remarkable to think that Johnson was not considered among the best five fast bowlers in the country when he was ignored for the Ashes tour.

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Such has been his resurrection, with ball and bat, that he now looks set to be a permanent fixture this summer, raising the delicious prospect of more fireworks on the fast and bouncy Perth wicket for the third Test in a few weeks. The stars align for Johnson in Perth.

There is nothing more exciting than a fast bowler in full flight.

It raises the level of the contest to a more brutal gladiatorial form.

Skill and bravery must be shown in equal measure if a batsman is to survive and thrive. England managed neither.

And this is an era when batsmen have never had it so good.

Kevin Pietersen had no answer to Ryan Harris. Source: News Corp Australia

It highlights the skill and courage of those from eras past who had nothing but a layer of cloth between them and the ball on their head and most of their body.

What a joy to watch a Test match on a fast and bouncy wicket which brings the best out of the finest combatants.

The Gabba is not payback for the dry and doctored wickets England ordered around their country a few months ago to blunt Australia's pacemen and give their star spinner Graeme Swann an armchair ride to becoming the leading wicket-taker in the series.

It is simply the way the Gabba rolls out most of the time.

Mitchell Johnson bowls to Stuart Broad of England during day two of the First Ashes Test. Source: Getty Images

Everyone has the chance to prosper, as sometimes unloved spinner Nathan Lyon proved when he chimed in with the wickets of Bell and Prior to be on a hat trick.

The roaring of the crowd when Johnson was in full flight revived the glory days of Australian fast bowling.

I will never forget sitting in the Great Southern Stand of the MCG on Boxing Day 1975 with 85,000 people chanting Thommo and then Lillee as they demolished the West Indies.

Or the chants of Lillee that continued to rise from the same ground by delirious fans long after he had bowled Viv Richards on the last ball of Boxing Day 1981 to leave the West Indies 4-10 at stumps.

All those at the Gabba on Friday will talk about Johnson for years.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aloisi can't get Heart out of hole

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MELBOURNE Heart's loss to Sydney last round was arguably the worst performance in A-League history.

Cries of "Aloisi out'' at the final whistle reverberated around Australia with the players producing a substandard performance. Fingers were pointed at the board.

So what is happening at Melbourne Heart? Why? Who's to blame? And how are they going to fix it?

It's a continuation of last season's poor finish but things have gone from bad to worse.

There's always several factors at play but the first thing that strikes you is that the players on the pitch are not playing to their full capacity.

The big names usually play OK but there seems to be too many willing to merely pick up their pay packet without worrying to much about the result or performance.

This is were the lack of a transfer system and incentives, such as promotion and relegation, come into play.

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A column for another day, but right now the performance against Sydney FC showed nothing but a complete disregard for the plight they find themselves in.

Just doing enough to get by is a part-time attitude that needs to change fast.

John Aloisi is a Socceroos legend and he would be doing everything possible to make his team better.

But does he have the experience in management to turn this around? I don't believe so and therein lies the quandary.

Very few succeed immediately after a playing career and the ones that do usually have a good team or a lot of funds to do it with.

Whether it's been Aloisi, chief executive Scott Munn or general manager football Johnny Didulica, the recruiting - including decisions to let players go - has been poor.

The exodus of nearly all their experienced players was ludicrous and the Harry Kewell experiment is turning into a farce.

This is where the board have big decisions to make. Do they persist and risk losing fans or do they bite the bullet?

Results and fan reaction will ultimately determine that, but if Heart continues on this road then something will have to be done to stop the bleeding.

The board must also decide in which direction it's headed.

There's more than one suitor keen to invest in the club and if selling a portion will help the club progress then they should do all they can to get this cash injection.

It's not impossible to turn this around, just look at tomorrow's opponent Newcastle Jets.

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'Perfect time to twist the knife'

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IT'S payback time at the Gabba this weekend.

A Test victory should await rampaging Australia but the home side must try to put a fistful of cherries on top of the pie. This is simply act one of a five-act play.

The next few days are a rare and precious chance for Australia to set themselves up for the summer by trying to break England's four-man attack in the field, getting a previously ropey top order into form and keeping England's key batting weapons pondering where their next run is coming from.

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Winning is the prime goal but keeping as many opposition players as possible out of form is a key subplot because England, fighters that they are, will be back.

Just losing a Test would be a numbing jolt for England given they have been unbeaten for 13 in a row and have not lost in a year. They are not used to getting over losses.

The fascinating thing about playing two Ashes series side-by-side is that there are recurring themes that become recurring nightmares.

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The series is just two days old yet already a host of players have blood dripping from reopened wounds.

Alastair Cook had a stunning series against Australia three years ago but in his two others series, including the recent one in England, he was firmly kept in Australia's pocket with repeated nicks outside off stump.

Ryan Harris found Cook's edge yesterday, so a skeleton is already rattling in his closet.

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Australia have been talking for a month about Jonathan Trott's struggles with the short ball and there they were again.

Cook and Trott, who destroyed Australia here three years ago, now look vulnerable each time they take the crease.

These are huge victories.

CHANGE OF PLAN

WE know England can protect a lead, scrap like junkyard dogs and sandpaper teams to death. But can they chase?

The prospect of Australia winning this Test and taking the lead against England for the first time in four Ashes series throws down a fascinating challenge for English captain Cook, whose naturally defensive mindset is more suited to protecting a lead rather than chasing one.

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THE FORTRESS

IF there was a snapshot of the reason why the Gabba is the greatest fortress in world cricket it was the madhouse English collapse between lunch and tea yesterday.

The biggest single factor behind Australia's 24 years of domination is the bounce of the wicket.

Batsmen going to India might be able to condition themselves for the turning ball and continued exposure to the swinging ball in the nets can enhance a batsman's skill level to that challenge.

Australia's Brad Haddin and captain Michael Clarke (L) react for a successful caught appeal. Source: AFP

But the Gabba continually proves that no amount of practice against ramped-up bowling machines or net bowlers can fully prepare a player for deliveries pounding into their ribs at 145km/h.

England may struggle to train for the Australian pace assault because barely a ball they have bowled in this match has pushed the speedometer past 140km/h.

The next time some AFL voice tries to convince the Gabba to have a drop-in wicket cricket officials should pull out a time capsule containing footage of yesterday's dismissals.

It was epic Test cricket.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ding dong, wicked Mitch is back

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MEMO: Barmy Army. Cop that.

Resurgent Australian quick Mitchell Johnson silenced his fiercest English detractors with a vicious second-session spell that turned the Gabba Test on its head on Friday.

For so long Australian cricket's true enigma, Johnson finally solved his own riddle and rendered England clueless as he honoured his pre-series pledge to be an Ashes force.

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The 32-year-old reprised his role as Australia's fast-bowling bully, taking 4-61 and claiming three wickets in 13 balls as the punchdrunk Poms (136) lost 6-9 in a disastrous middle session.

Johnson's first victim was Jonathan Trott (10) and when he removed Michael Carberry (40), Joe Root (2) and Graeme Swann (0) just before tea, Australia's standover man was re-born.

If cricket has a tale of redemption, this is it.

Exactly two years ago, Johnson lost the plot so dramatically he changed his bowling run-up midway through a Test against South Africa in Johannesburg.

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He finished with 2-168. A mess technically and physically, requiring toe surgery, he considered retirement.

He had already been through the wringer once before, left mentally battered by the Barmy Army brickbats that scorched Johnson's soul during his 2009 Ashes meltdown.

Yet here he is. Better for life's vicissitudes. Just as fast. Just as menacing. And now, alarmingly for England, mentally stronger for the dark days that taught Johnson to grasp every chance and bowl as if he's walking the (Baggy) Green Mile.

Mitchell Johnson lets fly. Source: Getty Images

Entering this Test, Johnson vowed he would no longer be a brain-frying conundrum. If the Barmy Army sledged him, he would give it back. After talking the talk, the left-arm speed merchant was duty-bound to walk the walk.

By stumps, his spikes trampled ruthlessly over an English top-order that surely thought it had seen the last of Johnson after he failed to appear in Australia's recent 3-0 Ashes loss.

Johnson started slowly yesterday and he can continue to tease, enchant, delight and frustrate ... all in the same spell. But it was another gamble, much like the one he took two years ago in Johannesburg, which proved a career-shaping moment.

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This time, the roll of the dice succeeded. Opting to go around the wicket, he rattled Carberry with two 145km/h thunderbolts before the English opener's edge to Shane Watson fuelled Johnson's fire.

The veteran of 209 Test wickets will never possess the metronomic consistency of Glenn McGrath but on his day Johnson sends the Richter scale soaring.

Perhaps he is best left raw and unspoiled.

As Australia's riddle, Mitchell Johnson's unpredictability is havoc enough to wipe out any (Barmy) Army.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Scott is the bogey man

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IT was a dramatic collapse. Five gone in the blink of an eye. The trophy surrendered, perhaps, with the battle still in its first day.

Not Australia, Adam Scott. Not five wickets, five shots.

A horrendous quintuple bogey nine at the par four 12th hole during the first round of the World Cup at Royal Melbourne that was, from Scott, far more shocking than Australia's routine top order collapse.

A tee shot and a provisional ball both carved right into the tea tree. The first ball lost, the second unplayable. So Scott trudged back to the tee where he needed to hole out from 410 metres to salvage bogey. He came up short.

That walk back to the tee is familiar to the club hacker as the Australian batsmen's march back to the pavilion. But for the world No.2 it must have felt as unfamiliar as leaving a nightclub without being offered half a dozen phone numbers.

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Nine is usually the first figure on a prizemoney cheque for Scott, not a golf score. It was the highest number he had pencilled on his scorecard since an unsightly 10 at Doral six years ago.

Inevitably, Scott would sign for a four over 75. Eight more than in his first round on the same course at the Australian Masters one week ago. Only Jason Day's pleasing 68 stopped Australia from slipping lower than eighth in the team event.

''Two lazy swings,'' said Scott of two of three two-irons he hit from the 12th tee. ''Just off with the fairies.''

Perhaps that was a sign of fatigue given Scott's tremendous recent workload. Having won back-to-back tournaments for the first time and shouldered a mountain of media and promotional work, he was entitled to a momentary brain fade. Even if the punishment did not quite fit the crime.

Scott's dramatic blowout was part of an otherwise low key day at Royal Melbourne. An indication the World Cup had not yet captivated even that golf mad part of the planet in Melbourne's famed sand belt region.

Adam Scott emerges from the scrub seemingly without his lost ball during his opening round. Source: Getty Images

Tournament organisers IMG are promoting back-to-back events on the same course, a tough sell even with Scott's quest for a Summer Slam and Day's relatively rare home appearance. But the subdued atmosphere from the modest galleries did not do justice to the excellent golf from some top-line players in conditions far more difficult than last week when the greens were softened by rain.

American Kevin Streelman upstaged his more heralded countryman Matt Kuchar with a sometimes spectacular 66. He matched the mark set by Danish veteran Thomas Bjorn who ensured Denmark had a chance of tightening its traditional grip on world golf.

Not that there was any hint of patriotic fervour. A bone of contention about the new World Cup format was that, as teams events go, this is more like Formula One than Ryder Cup. Every man for himself, then tally the numbers at the end of the day.

Still searching, Adam Scott peers into the undergrowth as he hunts down his lost ball. Source: Getty Images

Scott and Day played two hours and eight minutes and eight holes apart wearing their regular sponsored shirts rather than team uniform. Not an arrangement that allowed for Ryder Cup-style high-fiving or which distinguished the event greatly from last week's Australian Masters.

The added emphasis on the individual prize has been justified by the World Cup's dwindling significance on a crowded calendar. But yesterday that seemed a bit like fighting the market dominance of vanilla ice cream by producing yet more vanilla ice cream.

Surely something could have been done to accentuate the World Cup's point of difference - a team battle for a once prestigious team trophy. Like the Ashes, except with Australia having some chance to win.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cricket Confidential: A horror story

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CRICKET Confidential takes a different view on the opening Ashes Test as a horror story began to unfold at the Gabba and the Brisbane crowd experienced Ground Hog Day.

Horror on the Broadwalk

No, it's not a horror movie. Well, maybe it was before Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson slowed Stuart Broad's wicket-taking rampage and lowered the Gabba crowd's blood curdling screams to a murmur.

The Brisbane public really embraced The Courier-Mail's hate campaign aimed at public enemy No.1, Broad.

Aside from the constant booing whenever the lanky quick had the cherry in his hand, one great mind north of the Tweed came up with this gem: Stuart Broad, I know what you did last summer.

Hats off sir!

The Gabba crowd targets public enemy No.1. Adam Head. Source: News Corp Australia

Piggy in the middle

No, it's not 1983 and Sir Ian "Beefy" Botham (the pig) isn't causing mayhem on the Gabba outfield.

But there was a sense of deja vu in Brisbane on Thursday after a police officer - we haven't confirmed if it was the same constable from 83' - was snapped carrying a pig from the stands that had been smuggled in.

Don't worry kids, it wasn't Babe, but you might want to shield your eyes when "Beefy" tucks into a few bacon butties on day two.

Tweet of the day

Cricket's cockney rhyming slang

We're playing the Poms, so it's only fitting we give you the best cockney rhyming slang. Cricket Confidential heard a beauty on Thursday.

Mitchell Johnson hit a Demi Moore. Translation: Mitchell Johnson hit a cracking four!

Tweet us more cricket related rhyming slang at @FOXCricketLive or @FOX_CRICKET

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Root's a ringer for Ellen

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FIRST, it was the Sherminator. Now, Ellen DeGeneres. Shane Warne's attempts at getting under the skin of English batsmen have hit new heights with the spin king posting a split screen image Joe Root and DeGeneres on Instagram - the resemblance is shocking.

The uncanny similarity sent the Twitterverse into raptures after Warne posted the picture just before the close of play on the first day at the Gabba.

Warne famously labelled English batsmen Ian Bell, "The Sherminator" - a character in the movie American Pie - in a previous Ashes series.

Let's hope this jibe has the opposite effect on Root because Bell has been one of the world's premier batsmen since Warne launched his Sherminator attack. Fingers crossed.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Broad shoulders abuse to thrive

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STUART Broad revealed how a psychologist's report told him he would thrive on abuse as England's destroyer turned Michael Clarke into his Ashes batting bunny.

Broad may be Public Enemy No.1 down under, but the English quick is also Clarke's bully-boy after continuing his domination of Australia's best batsman in the first Test.

The Courier-Mail had urged Brisbane fans to snub the paceman as part of a "Broad-ban" and how Clarke must have wished his rival was barred from the Gabba precinct.

The Australian skipper managed a mere single before Broad struck again - the sixth time in his last eight Test innings Clarke has fallen to his British bogeyman.

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The paceman (5-65) finished with bragging rights as Australia recovered to 8-273 and he later attended the press conference clutching a copy of the newspaper that had pilloried him.

Mind-games clearly don't faze Broad. England's team shrink subjected the entire squad to a pre-tour psychological assessment and it found three players would relish sledging in Australia.

"We do all these tests about what kind of personality we are," said Broad, who was booed before his first delivery of the morning.

"The psychologist said there are three guys in this side who would thrive on getting abuse and they are 'KP' (Kevin Pietersen), myself and Matty Prior, so they picked the good men together."

Of the anti-Broad campaign, he said: "A couple of my mates had mentioned it, but I just saw this (The Courier-Mail) outside and it made me smile.

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"It's good fun. At the end of the day, you are focusing on your routines, not what the crowd is doing.

"But there is something about Ashes cricket that brings out my best ... there is a bit more niggle there."

The 27-year-old removed the top-three of Chris Rogers (1), David Warner (49) and Shane Watson (22), but it was his dismissal of Clarke that franked his big day out.

Like a cricketing ghost, Broad incessantly haunts Clarke. At 2-73, the skipper faced a typical rescue mission before Broad had him spooked, producing a rearing short-ball which Clarke fatally fended to Ian Bell at short leg.

"We know what a big player he is so you always have specific plans for their best players," he said.

"For the plan to work with Michael gave us a big lift."

Stuart Broad appeals unsucessfully to remove David Warner, one of his few disappointments on Thursday. Source: Getty Images

The firebrand dismissed Clarke five times during the recent series in England. Broad now has his scalp a record eight times at Test level, but denied having the wood on Australia's top dog.

"I wouldn't say I have a hold over him," he said.

"He can be destructive. There will be a time in the series when it goes well for him so we've got to enjoy the time he walks back for less than 10."

Few bowlers can consistently bamboozle Clarke but Broad, with his energy, competitive fire and deceptive short-ball, clearly has the man nicknamed 'Pup' on a leash.

Stuart Broad clean bowls Mitchell Johnson with a ball that swung late as the batsman attempted to drive. Source: Getty Images

And the Poms have every reason to delight in Broad's muzzling of Australia's top dog.

For decades, Aussie fans have rejoiced at the mention of Daryll Cullinan, the classy batsman who turned into a South African version of Phil Tufnell whenever he faced spin-king Shane Warne.

But for all the jibes not even Warne dominated Cullinan like Broad has Clarke. Warne dismissed Cullinan four times in the Test arena, which makes Broad's spell over Clarke twice as magical.

Broad has his critics and has been derided as a blond-haired, baby-faced pretty boy. But he possesses the heart of a lion, bowling unnerving lines yesterday to claim his 11th five-wicket Test haul. He finished the day with 222 Test victims and is set to overtake countrymen Steve Harmison (226), Andrew Flintoff (226), Darren Gough (229) and Andy Caddick (234) this summer.

No stranger to being laughed at, Broad has delivered the punchline. The joke is on Australia ... and Michael Clarke.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Time for talk is over

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ALL Ashes series are preceded by a Phoney Wars punctuated by routine predictions of 5-0 whitewashes, transparent mind games and chest-beating jingoistic rhetoric.

But the period of silly name calling, hollow accusations, petty internal squabbling and juvenile taunting before this Ashes series has made parliamentary question time seem like the Algonquin Round Table.

Shane Warne claims Alastair Cook's captaincy is boring, when, in fact, the only monotonous thing Captain Cook does is win. Nine Test victories in 16 as captain with a single defeat to India in a series England won.

Ricky is mean to Michael who is friends again with Shane who was just misunderstood. Which, alarmingly, is the dressing room machinations of the Australian team, not the plot of High School Musical 3.

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Arrogantly we accuse Kevin Pietersen of arrogance. In response the South Engfrican launches a smarm offensive that only emphasises why, if not for an outsized batting average, Pietersen's teammates would gladly row him back to Johannesburg.

The Australian boosters claim the English are more prepared for a poker tournament than a cricket series after several days in Hobart and Sydney are washed out. The English lick their lips at the thought of bowling to Australian batsmen Ian Botham claims should be carrying the drinks for the Randwick fifths.

Then, just as sanity is set to be restored by the start of play, the silliest remark of all from the most reliable source. David Warner claims - presumably while free from the influence of alcohol or narcotics - that the English are scared of Australia.

If so, after three consecutive series victories, England's nerves must be so fragile they carry smelling salts on the ghost train at a primary school fete. Let alone while facing Ryan Harris.

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Of course, for all the contrived controversies, internal squabbling and crystal ball gazing, the reality of this series is . . . the reality. What happens after the first ball is bowled.

For Australians disheartened by the now ritual humiliations inflicted by the Old Enemy, and bemused by their team's internal combustion, there will be considerable cause for optimism when all the smoke clears today at the Gabba.

Australia are not as bad as recent results - a troubled 4-0 drubbing in India followed by an almost equally tumultuous 3-0 defeat in England - suggest. Particularly now that the fault-lines in a team that became gaping craters have not merely been papered over, but properly addressed.

Coach Darren Lehmann is not everyone's schooner of New. The avuncular South Australian can be friendly, obliging and welcoming; but also terse, aggressive and combative.

Lehmann's incitement of Australian crowds to jeer Stuart Broad was not great politics. But if it was the type of statement that will have been welcomed in the sheds by players who will believe their coach has their back.

This, recent revelations suggest, is in stark comparison with the less unifying environment created by former coach Mickey Arthur. One in which uncertainty about selection, tactics and discipline only compounded insecurity in a team divided along personality lines.

If Lehmann has fulfilled his promise of creating a more harmonious change room, captain Michael Clarke's summer will be much easier. Even more so if his, as seems possible, his fellow batsmen ease his burden.

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Much of the focus entering the first Test is on mature-aged debutant George Bailey whose easygoing nature has been heralded as a magic ingredient. But the attributes that have made Bailey a fine limited-overs captain and player will count for little if he can't contribute significantly with the bat.

The greater source of encouragement for Australia is that, overall, a batting line-up that underwent more makeovers than a Double Bay housewife in England is settled. Warner earned his place with a first-class hundred, Watson looks solid at three and, most encouragingly, Steve Smith is emerging as a player of substance.

With James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc injured, the greatest concern is with the bowling line-up. Most obviously, whether Dr Mitchell or Mr Johnson turns up in Brisbane. Do we get a stump shattering blitzkrieg from the lightning left-armer, or scuds that prompt square leg umpires to call for a helmet?

Still, for the first time in a while, there is a sense of order and stability about Australia's line-up. Nor, despite their recent dominance, do England seem as daunting as before the last series.

There are two ways of assessing England's home victory. Either they played well below their best, yet still romped to a convincing 3-0 win by raising their game for the big moments.

Alternatively, Australia began to prise open cracks not previously seen in the English. Bowling full to Cook and short to Jonathan Trott. Making hay from the third paceman who is not a patch on the brilliant openers Jimmy Anderson and Broad.

At the same time, bone dry English pitches made for a sometimes tedious war of attrition that played to local strengths. Notably, the superior off-spin of Graeme Swann and reverse swing of their quicks.

Juicier pitches in Brisbane and Perth, particularly, won't necessarily discourage England. But, like the series itself, they will create uncertainty and excitement.

The Phoney War has been, in its Vaudevillian way, an entertaining time-filler. But no match for the real thing.

22.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

Meet Australia's own super sub

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AUSTRALIA will seek Ashes revenge by fielding a former Brisbane fruit packer to revive the ghosts of English super-sub Gary Pratt.

Coach Darren Lehmann has sought the services of the Brisbane Heat's "professional fieldsman'' Chris Sabburg to be 13th man for Australia during the Gabba Test.

Sabburg will effectively become 12th man, with Australia's nominated 12th man set to be sent south to play Sheffield Shield cricket.

Athletic and acrobatic, Sabburg is arguably the best fieldsman in Queensland and he played three Twenty20 games for the Brisbane Heat last summer as a specialist in the field without getting a bat or bowl.

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He finally got to do something other than just field for the Brisbane Heat when he got a bat at No.8 in the Heat's loss to Trinidad and Tobago at the Champions League tournament in India.

The 23-year-old has never played first-class or 50-over domestic cricket.

The move has sparked memories of the controversy in 2005 when highly-skilled but unknown England substitute fielder Gary Pratt ran out Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting with a direct hit in the Trent Bridge Test.

It prompted a furious tirade from Ponting, who screamed expletives at England coach Duncan Fletcher, who was sitting smugly on the England team balcony.

Ponting continued his campaign against substitute fielders as England thumbed their nose at him, with Pratt winning a place on the open-top bus which took England's Ashes winning team through London.

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Given the hot-blooded background to the substitute fielder affair, England are unlike to take the Sabburg news well.

Sabburg, who is fast, has a strong arm and superb hands, was at Australian training yesterday where he was seen in deep discussion with coach Lehmann.

''I am locked in (to be Australia's sub) for the first three days of the Test,'' Sabburg confirmed to The Courier-Mail.

''It would be pretty fun to get on the field. There is a bit of history of sub-fielders with Australia and England. I do remember that Gary Pratt thing.''

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Few Australian cricket fans would know much about Sabburg but he boasts an impressive cricket pedigree as the cousin of former Australian fast bowler Andy Bichel and the nephew of the former Queensland quick Dirk Tazelaar.

He has given up working at Brisbane's Rocklea Fruit Markets and is studying to become a personal trainer, but hopes he can carve a career out of cricket.

Sabburg is expected to share the Australian sub-fielding duties at the Gabba with another red-haired Queenslander, batsman Alex Kemp, who also is a superb fieldsman.

IS THIS JUST HYPOCRISY FROM AUSTRALIA OR FAIR ENOUGH AS IT'S WITHIN THE RULES. HAVE YOUR SAY BELOW.

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